Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Dexter, Michigan USA

Fuck Matt Abdoney (the head craft guy @ JJ Taylor) for forcing this beer on me. It’s PHENOMENAL. So why should he burn in hell? THIS BEER IS WAY TOO GODDAMN EXPENSIVE!!!!! all of jolly pumpkin’s beers are. I’m going to go broke even buying this beer at wholesale. Love the excessive Brettanomyces. Love this Beer. Hate Matt Abdoney......not really.....but I should.

1/28/06. Pours golden with a large white head. The aroma is lemon, pineapple, bananas, pears and lots of Brett. I could smell this all day. The flavor starts out sweet with pineapple, green grapes, apple and peppery, before ending with touch of funk, cobwebs. The finish is medium length and slightly tart. The moughtfeel is light and lively. Very refreshing. 9/4/8/4/16/4.1
5/13/06. One month old bottle. Similar to last bottle, but much more horsey and pineapple brett. Aroma is perfect. Very light lacto, just a touch at the end. This has an incredible amount of juicy pineapple in it. Light pepper in the finish. Plenty of body, with a nice amount of residual sugars. I can’t imagine a better bottle of this. 10/4/10/4/19/4.7

Heads up; my bottle was a moderate gusher. Pours a nearly opaque straw gold with a big, pillowy white head. Aroma is very pungent; tart and sour with some wild funkiness coming through. Flavor is quite sour like a gueuze, but with none of the mustiness that typically accompanies such flavors. There’s a definite oak background, but none of that bourbon crap that is so popular right now. Notes of ripe fruit and maybe some earthy cheese (or a flavor that would pair well with such). Hops are there, but not very prominent. Body is thin and highly carbonated. More sourness in the dry, puckering finish. This is absolutely fantastic!

Poured deep yellow with a HUGE white head. Aroma was sour and somewhat fruity. I thought it was going to be a flemish sour after smelling this. The flavor was a huge dissapointment given the wonderful sour aroma. Very dry and weak tasting. Flavor had a bunch of herbal and grassy notes with none of the sourness hinted at in the aroma. Dry and very light. 8/4/5/2/11 Re-rate: Bottled. Poured a perfect SOLID yellow. It looked like a yellow stone in a glass with an off white head. Aroma was sour, tart, barnyard, classic JP, sweet fruits: banana, orange, and lemon. Almost like a sour juicy fruit. Body was super smooth and made it tasted like I was eating beer. Slightly sweet banana and orange sponge cake is how I might describe it. Felt like a beer malt, like a solid block with a smooth velvet bottom sliding across the tongue. A tinge of barnyard in the finish, some tartness, but only enough to let you know, "Nukka I here!"

16/10/2009. Batch Batch 369. I am not worthy, really I’m not... this beer makes me wonder what the hell I’m doing brewing "drinkable" hoppy ales and Belgian table beer. Imagine Duvel aged in oak barrels - you’re not even close! Anyone who gives this less than 4 should be taken out the back... you don’t want to know what they do to the people out back!

Yellow gold, white head. Incredible nose! Exotic fruits and flowers (passion fruit, carambole...), oak, some spice. Superb balance of acidity (wild yeast but not so funky), sweetness not too prohiment (fruits) and a perfect dry finish (oak??). No signs of alcohol, extremely refreshing and satsifying. One of my Jolly Pumpkin favorites!

750 mL bottle, snifter. A frothy and audible white head slowly descends upon a hazy, deep golden-peach hued body with steady carbonation. The aroma is immediately stunning and captivating. The spicy tartness of crushed mustard seed blends seamlessly into clove and banana esters. Cereal and bread malts find companionship in pepper and ginger root. Unmistakable barnyard and leather yeast esters are intoxicating but never dominant. A lemon and pineapple fruitiness merges into a subtle earthiness, no doubt due to the hops and oak. The aroma is all over the map and I can’t find a single odor I dislike. I only wish it could be a little more pungent and spicy. The flavor immediately reveals rich bready malts and smooth fruity esters balanced by a moderate tartness and a light dusty feeling. The transition to the finish is smooth and yet it seems like an entirely different beer. Striking sour and tart, with a slight funk, lemon tones come to the forefront along with a robust spiciness. The semi-drying aftertaste seems to go on indefinitely. There’s an extreme tightness to the flavor here, absolutely no mess and no slopiness. The mouthfeel is near-full and quite velvety, yet the intense carbonation keeps everything moving along right on pace. I would simply die if I had a Reuben to pair with this right now.

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles although I had this at Schroppy’s gathering but confused it with Calabaza Blanca and didn’t rate it. Banana, yeast, spice, and some lemon. Pours a cloudy orange with some sediment and a nice white head and decent lacing. Very sweet with lots of banana. Woodiness seems to come more up front. Finishes citrusy and yeasty with some light hops. Lightly acidic.

Well, I realize that current batches of JP are becoming more and more brett influenced (which is great IMO) so I’m not suprised my description and rating has changed. Aroma has a lot a brett tartness with moderate yeast, lemon, fruit, pepper, and a touch of wood. Pours a hazy almost cloudy pale yellow with a creamy white head with some yellow tint and excellent retetention and lacing. Flavor starts with a quick fruity yeastiness that is quickly influenced by the brett tartness. The fruit combined with the brett almost gives it a sweet tart flavor. There are some subtle hints of banana in the background. Finishes mildly peppery with some moderate floral notes. There is a touch of acidity. Alcohol isn’t noticeable in the slightest. As often as I drink this, I never had a clue it was anywhere near 8%. Carbonation is lively but still manages a sort of creaminess rather than coming across as stingy. As close to a daily drinker as I could find. Either this or Bam Biere. This is so much better than the first time I had this. I would choose to drink this beer ahead of a few that I’ve personally rated higher. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Granted this doesn’t score low, but this has to be one of the most underated brews out there.